Vehicle spring



' Sept. 19, 1944. H, A. FLGAUS Y 2,358,699

EEEEEEEEEEEE NG ATTORNEY l ogardyreaus Siwa Patented Sept. 19, 1944 TUN'ITED )STATES PATENT: QFFICE i VEHICLE SRDIG `-f VHoward A. Flogaus, Media,

Pa., ass'gnor'to The I y v J; G. Brill Company, Philadelphia, Pa.,acprpo" i Y rationofPennsylvania "Application July 21, 1942,'seria1'NQ45197 I Claims.

Y This invention relates to springs general and inparticular to leaf springs intended f or *use on vehicles running on either road or rail.

Numerous attempts have been made in the past to provide a completely satisfactory leaf spring but such attemptsmhave failed to a greater or lesser degree. Any spring which is designed to be unlubricated,-that is, have the leaves in direct metallic contact, isnoisy and changes its characteristics asthe metal becomesscored. On the other hand if a spring designed for lubrication it soon becomes too stiif due to loss of lubricant and its ride characteristics are very bad. It well known that it is practically impossible tol maintain lubricant in vehicle springs due to the squeezing action of the. spring leaves and due tothe h igh velocity jets of water driven by the wheels against the springs. Attempts have been made to lubricatesprings byinserts but these inserts could of necessity occupy but a small part of the spring leaf end since they could not' carry the load. Attempts have also been made to insulate the leaves of springs with fiat pads having no'lubricating function but such pads rapidly disintegrated due to the wedging actionof the springs inservice and due.v to the heavy loads, the point the spring with parts broken away to better disclose the lubricating and insulating means, and Fig. 4 is av sectional-view taken substantially online4-4ofFignZ.44 Y

Referring now to the drawing in detail, it will be seenthat the spring as shown infFig. 1 is built up of a plurality of varying length leaves, 'thetopmost of which has :its ends rolled as at 'V2v around a bushing 4 tlius'forming an eye adapted to receive a pin, shackle or other means, by means of which the spring is attached toarid supports the vehicle. l The rem'aindrof ythespring unit is made up of a plurality'of decreasing length leaves numbered .6, 8, I0',V I2, I4, I6, I8, 20 and 22V, respectively, from thetop toward the bottom. Of these varying length leaves those numbered I 4 toV 22 inclusive are'of-znore orjless standard construction, whileY those numbered from 6 to I2 inclusive are modified to accommodate the improvement later tolbe described. `'It will, of course,

VV be obvious that the improvement may be applied of application of which varied as the load Von the` spring varied.` 1t is an object, therefore, of the present invention to provide a lubricating, insulating pad of sufficient strength to support the entireload transmitted fromone spring leaf to the other. y A Y ...A furtherY object of the invention is the provision of alubricating'and insulating pad which Y can be readily inserted or removed from between the spring leaf ends.V

still' further object of the invention is the provision ofV a lubricating pad carried by the spring leaf ends and which is self-equalizing to absorb the complete load over its entire area at all times.

A yet further object of the invention is the vprovision of an insert between spring leaves at the tips which will accomplish control over the spring friction thereby maintaining the ride characteristics of the spring substantially uniform,

These and other objects of the invention will be apparent to personsskilled in the art from a study of the following description and accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure 1 is an elevational view of a spring having the improvements applied thereto;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged detail'view of an end of a spring with the improvement applied thereto; Y

Fig. 3 is an inverted plan view of a portion of to more or less spring leave'sthan has been illustrated'ln Fig. 1. l l' Each ofthe spring leaves 6,- 8', I0, vI2 have their endsv deformed b'y curving the metal outwardly and inwardly to provide Ia semi-cylindrical shape pocket 3l).` The metalforming the outer edgeof this pocket orr tip of the springis bent outwardly as at 32 substantially parallel with the main portion of the spring. In this manner a strong semicylindrical pocket is formed extending completely across the spring unpierced by any holes and leaving the spring 'unweakened r.s'incethere has been no stretching or'extremedeforniation of the metal forming tliesspring."` This featureris important since the entire load carriedbyajspring is trans'- mitted through the tip ofthe spring. A."

In' order to separate the yspring leaves 2 to l2V inclusive special insert units 40 are used. Each of these inserts is moulded or formed with a semi-cylindrical back portion 42 exactly conforming to the semi-cylindrical pocket 30 in the spring leaves. The face portion 44 is made substantially at and adapted to engage the opposing surface of the adjacent spring. For ease in moulding or forming and to prevent abrasion, the corners adjoining the face and back are rounded as at 46. In this manner a semi-cylindrical bearing pad with wide engaging face, curved back and rounded corners is provided. This bearing pad, as clearly shown, particularly in Fig. 4, is provided with end flanges 48 extending outwardly from the back portion ends of the member and spaced suciently far apart to receive the spring leaf therebetween.

at the apart slightly, and it has beenY found that aV space of le of an inch is sufficient to give a proper spring action for a long period of time. The

Y units or inserts may lloe made of anysuitable Inaterial but in practice it has been found that if they are made of dense layers of fabric bound together with a binder impregnated with graphite the best results are obtained. Graphite imi pregnated metal, rubber or othervmaterial could y be used but in any case the insert is ofY suicient strength as to carry the entire load While lubricating the entire bearing area subject to friction. n Y

It will be seen that the bearing unit 'or insert may be readily inserted by merely prying the,`

spring leaves apart suiicient to permit passage of the flanges 48, after-Which the unit may be slid transversely of thev spring leaf until the flanges 48 drop over the sides of the semi-cylindrical pocket formed in the spring end. Removal of the wedging means will then permit thespring leaf to grip the insert and force the face 44 against the adjacent spring leaf. The flanges 48 will prevent any transverse shifting of the unit, While the semi-cylindrical' pocket prevents removal of the unit along V'the spring; Due'to the semi-cylindrical pocket and back of the bearing pad or insert, the pad or insert may adjust itself to various angular relations between the spring leaves such as arise when the spring is subjected to bearing loads, thus the entire bearing face 44 will be equally loaded andialw'ays'in contact with the adjacent spring leaf and will slide on such leaf as a flat shoe.'A The graphite or other material in the unit Will lubricatethe steel surface, thereby preventing any squeaks, While the nonmetallic composition of the 'unit will either` "eliminate or dampen transmissionfof lnoise from anyV cause through the springto the vehicle body.

While' the invention has been Vdescribed more skilled in the art that'various Vmodifications 'in the arrangement, constructionand form f theparts may be made without departing from the scope of the invention `as defined by the appended claims.V What is claimedis:

plate, formed-m the end limrtions of certaincf "said plates'and extending completely acrs's'fthe same, said pockets being opentowardl the adjacent sur-V face of the overlapping plate, and a bearing pad occupying each of said pockets and of sufficient thickness to hold apart the ends of the adjacent plates, said bearing pad being of suflicient length to overlap the sides of said plates and prevent transverse shifting of the pad in said pockets.

2. In a vehicle spring, a plurality of plates of spring metal each overlapped by an adjacent plate, substantially semi-cylindrical pockets formed in the end portions of certain of said plates and extending completely across the same,

Y-sa'id :pockets being open toward the adjacent surface of the overlapping plate, and a bearing Y 'padoccupying each of said pockets and of suftcient thickness to hold apart the ends of the adjacent plates, said bearing pad being formed with flanges engaging the sides of said plates at the pockets and preventing shifting of the pad axially of the pocket.

- V3.y In Vavehicle spring, aplurality of plates vof spring metal each'overlap'ped "by an adjacent plate, substantially semi-cylindrical pockets formed in the endportions of certain of said plates and extending completely across the same,

said pockets being open toward the adjacent surface of the yoverlapping plate, and a bearing pad occupying each of said pockets and ofl sufficient thickness tohold-apart the ends of the adjacent plates, said bearing pad being formed of a supporting and lubricating material.

4. -In 'a vehicle spring, a plurality of plates of springfmetal each overlapped by an adjacent i Y plate, vsemi-cylindrical pockets formed inthe end portions and extending completely across certain of said plates and openV toward the surface of the overlapping plate, a bearing pad cnf-support: ing and lubricatingrmaterial in each of said pockets and of sufficient thicknessV` andlength to hold apart the ends ofthe adjacent plates,

said bearing pads vbeing of semi-cylindrical form and rockablein said `pofckets whereby the fiat portion thereof is maintained parallel to the Y A Y adjacent surface'of the'adjacent plate. or less in detail, .it willbe obvious to persons' end portions of said 'second plate and openV toward the adjacent vsurface vo'f said first plate,

` 1. 'In' a vehicle spring, `'a pluralitycf `plates of' spring metal each overlapped byanad'jaceiit 'substantially` Vsemi-cy'liridr ical -pocketsv terial.

andra bearing padoccupying each of saidpockets and of sufficient thickness as to hold apart rthe ends ofthe first and second vplates and being formed of a loadsupporting'andlubricating mayHOWARD A. FLOGAUS. 

